Dubai lifted by East European arrivals

Arrivals from eastern Europe drov Dubai passenger numbers above the 5 million mark last month.

Monthly passenger traffic at Dubai airport topped the 5 million mark last month. Kamran Jebreili / AP Photo

Arrivals from Eastern Europe pushed Dubai passenger traffic beyond 5 million last month as Emirates Airline and flydubai added routes.

A total of 5.08 million passengers used the airport, up 11.4 per cent from the same month a year ago, but marginally down on last month's 5.6 million.

"We continue to stay ahead of the curve in terms of our traffic forecast of 65.4 million passengers in 2013," said Paul Griffiths, the Emirates chief executive. "We are also on track in terms of introducing capacity to meet demand. "Concourse A is fully online and setting new standards for A380 service. Additionally, the expansion of Terminal 2 is proceeding on plan as is the upgrade of Terminal 1 and the construction of Concourse D.

All three projects are integral elements of our US$7.8 billion [Dh28.65bn] airport strategic plan to boost capacity and augment service levels over the next several years."

Aircraft movements reached 28,085 in February, climbing 3.8 per cent from the 27,058 recorded a year earlier. The figures however, were slightly down on 31,332 movements in January, which were up 5.6 per cent from the 29,680 movements recorded in January 2012.

Average passengers per aircraft movement, which is an indicator of airport efficiency, totalled a record 201, up 4.4 per cent from the 193 passengers per movement registered in February 2012. The airport said the increase was thanks to the larger number of Emirates A380s now in service.

The traffic report also noted that the airport's January figures had been boosted by the seasonal holiday bubble as well as a further increase in visitors generated by the Dubai Shopping Festival.

Regionally last month, Eastern Europe was the fastest-expanding market in terms of percentage growth, up 29.6 per cent on last February, driven by new services to Poland by Emirates, and Macedonia by flydubai.

On intercontinental routes, Asia Pacific was up 21.8 per cent, Russia & CIS by 18.5 per cent and Asia by 15 per cent, primarily because of the additional daily Emirates service to Manila.

The Middle East was the only region to record fewer travellers, with a slight year-on-year drop of 1.6 per cent.

The top three destination countries in terms of market size continued to show strong positive growth overall in February.

Traffic on routes between Dubai International and its largest market, the Indian subcontinent, was up 10.8 per cent while the United Kingdom recorded a 5.2 per cent traffic increase.

The number three market, Saudi Arabia continued its remarkable traffic growth with a 42.3 per cent increase compared with the same period last year thanks to expanded services between Dubai and Saudi Arabia launched by Emirates, flydubai, nasair and Saudi Arabian Airlines, said Dubai Airports.

Freight volumes continued their resurgence in February, rising 15.9 per cent to 182,580 tonnes, up from 157,492 recorded a year earlier, confirming a return to more robust growth in cargo volumes at Dubai International, as air freight capacity increases and consumer confidence improves globally.

The first two months of this year show cargo volumes up 12.1 per cent to 370,099 tonnes, compared with 331,023 tonnes a year ago.